for thy word saying When wilt thou comfort me XVI The comfort to them all is this that their affliction which to them is too too long is but a moment not onely in respect of God y 2. Pet. 3.8 with whom one day is as a thousand yeares and a thousand yeeres as one day but also in regard of the eternity of unspeakeable glory wherewith it shall be swallowed up a Rom 8.18 For I reckon saith the Apostle that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to bee compared with the glory which shall bee revealed in us Glory which these sufferings worke in us b 2. Cor. 4.17 For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a farre more exceeding and eternall weight of glory even so farre as it subdueth our pride mortifieth our lusts and is the Lords high way unto our eternall blisse Whereunto if yee adde the promise of deliverance even in this life nothing shall be wanting to our full comfort XVII What then shall we doe till the Lord come and deliver us what but waite upon the Lords pleasure The lewes knew by revelation from God the time of their bondage in Egypt and captivitie in Babylon which being come to an end they said confidently to God c Psal 102.13 Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Sion for the time to favour her yea the set time is come We have no such revelation and therefore we must bee content to relye upon Gods generall promise and say with David d Psal 130.5 I waite for the LORD my soule doth waite and in his word doe I hope assured that howsoever it seeme that heaven and earth conspire against us and that wee are brought to the pinch he shall put a new song in our mouthes and give us a most plentifull subject to sing as David did e Psal 40.1 In waiting I waited for the LORD and he inclined unto me and heard my cry f Heb. 10.23 For hee is faithfull that promised And g Luk. 1.37 with him no word is impossible The Lord in his great mercies give us this patient hope and assurance for Christ Iesus his deare sons sake who with him and the holy Ghost liveth and raigneth God blessed for evermore Amen SERM. IX Of Gods Iudgements upon Persecuters and of the last deliverance of the Church ESAIAH XXVI 21. For behold the LORD commeth out of his place to visite the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity the earth also shall disclose her blood and shall no more cover her slaine 1. THe last motive to patience is taken from the Iudgements of God 2. The Lord is said to come when he iudgeth 3. He is said to come out of his place when his iudgements and mercies are made conspicuous 4. He visiteth the inhabitants of the earth eyther in iudgement or in mercy 5. Wicked men are called the inhabitants of the earth for godly men are strangers here 6. God will visite the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity which they thinke to bee good service to God 7. God will be avenged of those which shed the blood of his deare ones 8. Because he is righteous and faithfull 9. Great iudgements on persecuters 10. Namely on great men under the law 11. And principally on those who have persecuted the Christian Church 12. Prosperity in this world is a token of Gods indignation rather than of his love 13. The torments of hell prepared for wicked men 14. Their conscience tells them there is a hell 15. Hell is a place penall in its owne selfe 16. There is there paine of dammage most unsufferable 17. As likewise unconceiveable paine of sense 18. Which is universall 19. And everlasting 20. Persecuters above all others shall be tortured there with most exquisite torments 21. Great shall be in that day the glory of Gods Saints and terrible to their Persecuters 22. Great difference betweene the life and the end of wicked and of godly men 23. The Church cannot be destroyed 24. Exhortation and consolation 1. AS the words of this text are from God the last so should they bee in your hearts a most powerfull motive to a patient tarrying for the blessed time which the wisedome of the Lord hath appointed for the glorious and finall reliefe of his Church from all misery Ye may call the text DAN i e. Iudgement for it threatneth with no small mischiefe all bloody and cruell persecuters and by their overthrow promiseth deliverance to them which are persecuted The time of the one and of the other is not a time of many yeares moneths weekes dayes The afflictions of the Church shall be gone in a moment as ye have heard In a moment also shall come the destruction of those that persecute her who in their greatest prosperity are a Minut. Felix ut victima ad supplicium saginantur ut hostia ad poenam corâ—nantur like beasts fatted b Zeph. 1.8 and crowned with garlands for the day of the Lords sacrifice wherein saith the Lord I will punish the Princes and the Kings children and all such as are clothed with strange apparell II. For behold the Lord commeth O open the eyes of your minde ô bid your faith rise from her sleepe to behold in the immutable truth of the Lords threats in the inevitable power of his iustice in the innumerable iudgements which he hath already dispatched against wicked oppressors in his more than motherly love to his deare ones his promptnesse and readinesse to deliver his Church by the overthrow of all her enemies Hee he himselfe he who is the Lord will destroy them Neither shall they be able to shield themselves against the Lord He will not tarry he will not delay his comming Behold be commeth he is already on his iourney III. From whence commeth he Out of his place O Lord Art thou so in one place that thou art not at the same time in all places O infinite Maiestie c August ad Volusian Epist 3. Novit ubique totus esse nullo contmeri loco Novit venire non recedendo ubi erat Novit abire non desereÌ„do quo venerat Miratur hoc mens humaena quia non capit fortasse non credit thou canst be every where at one time and yet thou art do where Thou fillest with thy presence every place and loe thou art not contained in any place Thou canst come and not goe from the place where thou wast Thou canst depart and not leave the place whereunto thou didst come Our soules wonder at this but because of their narrownesse they cannot comprehend it O Lord grant that we may beleeve it And tell us how thou who hast the heaven for d Esa 66.1 thy throne and the earth for thy footstoole thou who sayest of thy selfe Doe I not fill the heaven and the earth O most wonderfull God teach us how thou commest and goest Dost thou not speake so not of
my soule for I have sinned against thee and he i Psal 107.20 will send his word and heal thee and deliver thee from the tombe Seest thou the evill dayes of warre be not discouraged but say confidently upon that which thou hast seen in France of that which thou shalt see in the Palatinat k Psal 46.7 8 9 10 11. The LORD of hosts is with us the God of Iacob is our refuge Selah Come behold the works of the LORD what desolations he hath made in the earth He maketh warres to cease unto the end of the earth He breaketh the bow and cutteth the speare in sunder he burneth the chariot in the fire Bee still saith he and know that I am God I will be exalted among the Heathen I will bee exalted in the earth The LORD of hosts is with us The God of Iacob is our refuge Is there any thing impossible to the LORD l Psal 76.12 Heshall cut off the spirit of Princes Hee is terrible to the Kings of the earth After so many deliveries we sing to the glory of his power m Psal 74.13 14. Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength thou breakest the heads of the Whales in the waters Thou breakest the heads of Leviathan in peeces and givest him to bee meat to the people inhabiting the wildernesse If there rise n Zech. 1.19 20 21. foure hornes to scatter Iudah Israel and Ierusalem there shall also arise foure smiths to fray and break them how often have we seene such things Wee shall see them againe and againe for the Lord of hosts is with us Can there any affliction so great befall us as to be deprived of Gods Word your father 's felt the pricke and smart of it in Philip the second Charles the ninth and Queene Maries dayes Now is fulfilled in France and in the Palatinat the prophecie of Esaiah o Esa 30.20 21. Though the Lord give you the bread of adversitie and the water of affliction yet shall not thy Teachers bee removed into a corner any more but thine eyes shall see thy Teachers and thine eares shall heare a voice behind thee saying This is the way walke ye in it when ye turne to the right hand and when yee turne to the left Blessed bee God who in this countrey giveth us with the bread of his Word the bread of prosperitie p Psal 110 2. He ruleth there in the midst of his enemies Here hee is like a father in the midst of his children The greatest of all our evills is sinne And we sing unto him morning and evening with heart and mouth q Psal 103.1 2 3. O my soule blesse the LORD and all that is within mee bless his holy Name Blesse the LORD ô my soule and forget not all his benefits who forgiveth ALL thine iniquities who healeth ALL thy diseases c. Hast thou any other evill which neither is in my knowledge nor in my memorie r Exod. 14.21 Exod. 15.4 6. Hee who made the sea dry land and whose right hand dashed in peeces Pharao and his hoste ſ Iosh 3.15 16. He that made the waters of Iordan rise up upon an heape and stand still even then when they overflowed all the bankes t Dan. 3.25 Hee who gave refreshing to the three Confessors in the midst of the burning furnace v Dan 6.22 He who delivered Daniel from the jawes of the Lions x Ion. 2.2 11. He who kept Ionah alive in the Whales belly and turned into a custodie that hell where he looked for present death y Ezec. 37.7 8 9 10. Hee who putteth breath into drie bones who tyeth them together with sinewes who covereth them with flesh and skin who by a marvellous resurrection setteth them upon their feete and maketh them an exceeding great armie is not like unto Isaac unto whom Esau said a Gen. 27.38 Hast thou but one blessing my father bless me even me also O my father As hee hath judgements b Deu. 32.34 laid up in store and sealed up among his treasures so hath he c Deu. 28.32 a good treasure of deliveries which cannot bee dryed up d Psal 106 2. Who can utter the mighty actes of the LORD who can shew foorth all his praise e Psal 139.17 18. How precious ô God are my thoughts of them how great is the sum of them If I should count them they are mo in number than the sand when I awake I am still with thee my spirit cannot conceive the number of thy deliveries III. I say then to you all as David said of old to his people f Psal 130.7 8. Let Israel hope in the LORD for with the LORD there is mercy much good-will to deliver your brethren which are now afflicted and to deliver you when hee shall also sit as a refiner to try and purifie you And with him is plentious redemption With him is force strength to redeeme he may doe it he can doe it he will doe it Hee shall redeem Israel from ALL his iniquities g 1. Cor. 10 13. He will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able but wil with the tentation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it Yea h Psal 121 7 8. the LORD shall preserve thee from ALL evill hee shall preserve thy soule The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy comming in from this time foorth and even for evermore IV. But how shall wee keepe reckoning of the LORDS deliveries seeing the maner of them goeth beyond all our wit and understanding for they are not all of one sort and the least and smallest of them is wonderfull Sometimes he worketh by meanes that we neglect them not Now and then hee giveth most miraculous deliveries besides and contrarie to all meanes that wee put not our hope and confidence in them Often hee delivereth the righteous man without all meanes to teach us to trust in him onely V. His meanes are divers and in their diversitie so many that it is almost impossible to reduce them into certaine heads In some ye see nothing but weaknesse In others might and strength In some wisedome in others follie In each of them such a varietie that neither am I able to expresse nor ye to conceive them Hee saved Moses David Elijah Iesus Christ Paul at divers times many zealous men among the Iewes under the bloody persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes many Confessors and faithfull brethren among the Christians in the primitive Church in our Fathers dayes and in ours by flight a most weake tedious and troublesome meane but yet a meane lawfull and approved of him as we shall see in the next Sermon VI. i Psal 33.16 17. There is no King saved by the multitude of any host a mighty man is not delivered by much strength An horse is a vaine thing for safety neither shall he deliver any by
his great strength Yet God imployeth often men horses hosts for the safety of the king deliverie of his people opposing men to men flesh to flesh vanitie to vanitie Thus he introduced his people into the land of Canaan by Ioshua delivered them often by the Iudges by David and other good Kings Thus after he had tryed the faith patience and constancie of the christian Church for the space of 3. hundred years by x. most heavy persecutions he stird up Constantine the Great to deliver them by the sword from their enemies In these skirmishes and combats men fight but k 1. Sam. 17.17 the battell is the LORDS It is he which giveth the victorie to them on whose side he is as the scales of a ballance hang upon that side where there is most weight This was that which Moses prophecied to his people l Deut. 33.27 The eternall God is thy refuge and underneath are the everlasting armes and he shall thrust out thy enemies from before thee and shall say Destroy them This was the confession of the Church of Israel with prayer and thanksgiving m Psal 44.3 4 5 6 7 8. Our Fathers got not the land in possession by their owne sword neither did their owne arme save them but thy right hand and thine arm and the light of thy countenance because thou hadst a favour unto them Thou art my King O God command deliverances for Iacob Through thee will wee push downe our enemies Through thy Name will wee tread them under that rise up against us for I will not trust in my bow neither shall my sword save mee But thou hast saved us from our enemies and hast put them to shame that bated us In God wee boast all the day long and praise thy Name for ever Selah Looke on what side God is there few are enow there two are enow there one is enough Few are enow Gedeon and three hundred men were sufficient against the Midianites because n Iudg. 6.16 the LORD said unto him Surely I will be with thee and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man Therefore when hee was going to fight hee cōmanded his souldiers to cry o Iudg. 7.18 The sword of the LORD and of Gedeon First the sword of the LORD as being the principall combatant Next of Gedeon as of a weak instrument in Gods hands and as the Midianite dreamed p Vers 23. a cake of barley bread which tumbling into the host of Midian smote it and put it to flight Three hundred Albigenses of Angrogne defended themselves in a medow against seven thousand Papists and having no other armour but slings gave them the chase Two are enow as q 1. Sam. 14.6 Ionathan and the young man that bare his armour against the garrison of the Philistins For as hee faid there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few When it is Gods pleasure to deliver by one one is enough r Iudg. 15.15 Samson with the jaw-bone of an Asse slew a thousand Philistins and ſ Iudg. 16.27 30. pulling down the house upon three thousand of them slew them all Wonderfull were the exploits of Davids Worthies but principally of t 2. Sam. 23.8 the first three for each of them being aloue slew many hundred of Gods enemies because God was with them But where God is not with men there a great host is as weake as one man And therefore when God drew himselfe back from the Iewes by reason of their sinnes they made their moan and said v Psal 44.9 10. Thou hast cast us off and put us to shame and goest not foorth with our armies Thou makest us to turn backe from the enemie and they which hate us spoile for themselves VII Sometimes God armeth his creatures and they fight against the enemies of his people either alone or jointly with them He fought against Pharao by turning of the river into blood by Frogs by Lice by swarmes of Flies by the murraine of Beasts by the plague of Boyles and Blanes of Haile Thunder and Lightning of Locusts and Darknesse at last by his Angell which smote all the first-borne of Aegypt from men unto the cattell Hezekiah being inclosed in Ierusalem and not able to resist against Senacherib his army x 2. Kin. 19.35 the Angell of the LORD went out and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred foure score and five thousand When of these champions of the heavēly host one alone doth so great deeds what would not doe all Psal 68.17 the Chivalrie of God which is of twenty thousands even of thousands of Angells z Psal 34.7 which encampe round about them that feare God Wherefore David prayed the Lord a Psal 35.5 to send his Angell to chase his enemies b t. 12.7 One Angell delivered Peter a multitude of Angels delivered c 2. King 6.17 Elisha and carryed d Luk. 16.22 Lazarus into Abrahams bosome When Ioshua was fighting against five kings of Canaan e Iosh 10.11 the LORD cast downe great stones from heaven upon them and they were moe which dyed with haile stones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the swords When in the divisions of Reuben there were great thoughts of heart and sundry other tribes through lazinesse followed not Deborah and Barak in the warre against Iabin and Sisera the heavens and the starres fought with them against those puissant enemies IIX Often God worketh besides all meanes yea and against the nature of meanes Ioseph is sold by his brethren and cast into a loathsome prison that he may be exalted to the highest glory that is in Kings Courts The sea was a safegard to the people of Israel even then when the Egyptians were overthrowne in the middest of it The blowing of trumpets and the burning lamps were fitter to discover Gedeon with his three hundred disarmed men to the hoste of the Midianites than to discomfit it The f Iosh 6.4 blowing of rammes hornes was not so fit to cast downe the walles of Iericho as to advertise the Citizens to be upon their guard and to watch to hold them up What could Davids sling serve against Goliaths speare and who would not have mocked the three hundred Albigenses fighting with slings against seven thousand men well armed as if they had beene as many birds in a hemp-yard It pleaseth God to deliver so that his Church vaunt not against him saying g Iudg. 7.2 Mine owne hand hath saved med and so relye upon the meanes and make him a co-partner onely of the deliverie and not author thereof When the Lyons spare Daniel when the fire beareth respect to the three Confessors when the Whale swalloweth up Ionah and three dayes and three nights after vomiteth him out of her belly upon the dry land without any harme who can deny but that such deliveries were against the nature of meanes and cannot
fourescore and six yeares and he hath never done me any harm how then should I curse my King which hath saved me q Tert. Apolâ—get c. 1. 46. 49. All the Christians when they were condemned gave thanks as for a great benefit r Iust Mart. Apol. 1. Lucius thanked Vrbicius which had condemned him to die for Christs sake because said hee being delivered from evill masters I am going to my Father the King of heaven Amongst all is wonderfull the constancie of Felicitas a Widow of Rome like unto that of the Mother and of the seven children of whom I have already spoken for she also had seven sonnes Å¿ Gregor 1. hom 3. in Euang. tom 2. Other mothers fear lest their children die before them She feareth lest her sons live after her She converted them to Christ being taken with them shee confirmed them in the confession and faith of Christ Publius the Governor of the towne with faire words sought to entice her Have pittie saith he of thy selfe at least pittie these thy seven sonnes After with rough words hee thought to astonish her But she having in a womans body a mans breast Neither saith she are thy promises able to tickle mee nor thy threats to terrifie mee And choosing rather to loose all her Children than to see then loose Christ of a mother shee became a Preacher unto them and after she had seen them all glorifie the Lord Iesus by their death the love of Christ surmounting in her the griefe which she received of her orbitie she went also with drie eyes a laughing countenance and a most heroicall courage to the place of execution and received there the crowne of Martyrdome And therefore as Christ said of Iohn Baptiste that t Mat 11 9 he was a Prophet yea more than a Prophet so may wee say of her that she was a Martyr yea more than a Martyr Consider the tender love of a mother and ye shall confesse that the death of each of her sonnes was a martyrdome unto her She was then seven times Martyr in her seven sonnes and the eighth time in her own person After I have spoken of such a woman shall I goe back to men Shall I speak of v Euseb hist Eccles lib. 5. cap. 1. Attalus one of the Martyrs of Vienne in France in the time of Antonius Verus the yeare of Christ 178. who being set in a burning chaire of iron preached to the Romanes as if he had bin in a pulpit teaching them what God is reproving their cruelty maintaining the innocencie of Christians and saying This which you do is eating swallowing of mens flesh but we eate not mens flesh neither doe we harme to any man Shall I forget Laurentius Deacon of the Church of Rome who being laid upon an iron grate and a slow burning fire under it that he might feele his death This side said he is inough rosted turn me upon the other which being done after some space he said againe to the Governor x Prudent in hymno Coctum devora Et experimentuÌ„ cape Sit crudum an assum suavius Now both sides are well rosted come eate and try which is sweetest raw or rosted It was a common thing to all Christians in those dayes y Tertull de Idolat cap. 11. Quo ore Christianus thurarius si per Templa transibit quo ore flumantes aras despuet exsufflabit quibus ipse prospexit Minut Felix deos despuuÌ„t rideâ—t sacra when the hangmen would hale them violently to the Temples of their Idolls when the Iudges would command them to bow downe to the Altars and to worship the Idols if they had hands and feete free to breake the Images fling away the Censers trample on the sweete smelling incense and if they were bound they would puffe at the Temples spit at the abominable Images with great contempt wagg their heads at all the diabolicall superstition All this did the holy woman and couragious Martyr z Prud. in Martyrio Eulalia Martyr ad ista nâ—hil sed enim Iâ—fremit in que tyranni oculos Sâ—uta iacit simulacra dehinc Eulalia She did more shee spat upon the Governors face who by all kind of most cruell torments went about to constraine her to idolatry And this puffing and spitting at the onely naming of the false religion was most usuall in those dayes among the brethren O Faith O Courage O Victorie O gods of wood of stone of metall where is your Majestie O Tyrants where your power O cruel Executioners Dissipat impositamque molam where is your fury Loe not men onely but women but young children contemne you fight against you Thuribulis pede prosubigit overcome you XVII Shall passe under silence our own Martyrs to begin with one of the first even Ierome of Prague condemned to be burnt quicke by the bloody councell of Constantia How the stood before his passionate and ignorant Iudges without feare not onely contemning death but also lusting after it x Poggius Florent ep 3 a Papist which was an eye-witnesse of all the actes of that Tragedie relateth with admiration and praise He went to death with a cheerfull countenance when hee came to the place of execution he imbraced the post whereunto he was tied kissed it Perceiving the hangman going behind his back to set the wood on fire lest he should see it he cried unto him Come here come here and kindle the fire before my face for if I had dreaded it I should never have come to this place which I might have shunned Then with a most holy wonderful joy he sung a Psalm to God which the fire and the smoake had much adoe to interrupt Patricke Hammilton a young Gentleman of Scotland as he was going to the fire by his words and lookes affrighted in such sort Alexander Cambell a Dominican Frier his accuser that he became besides himselfe and died madde George Baynam and Iohn Frith Englishmen imbraced kissed their fagots Laurent Sanders imbraced with great joy the post whereunto the hangman was tying him and said O crosse of my good Lord. In France Steven Brun after that his Iudges had pronounced against him the sentence of death cryed with a loud voice My Iudges have condemned mee to live And Iohn Baron being advertised by his Iudges which had condemned him to appeale from them unto the Court of Parliament Can ye not said he bee content to have your owne hands defiled with my blood but ye will have other mens hands polluted with it also Amongst all I admire most the peasant of Lynri which meeting some prisoners condemned for the Religion after he had asked and known of them the cause of their condemnation leapt upon the chariot and went to dye with them Above all the victories of women are most wonderful As the hangman was ready to put to death a loving couple of Martyrs Iohn Bayly and his wife